Automatic doorlatch



Feb. 2, 193s.

Filed NOV. 29,i 1955 J. R. HENDERSON AUTOMATIC DOORLATCH 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jamas fazderson/ @www Feb. 26, 1935. J, R. HENDERSON AUTOMATIC DooRLATH Filed NOV. 29, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 gnam/tn Jams HenaWsw@ @mth/LM abro: vw 1.1-4/

Patented Feb. 26, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE AUTOMATIC DOORLATCH James R. Henderson, Hayti, Mo. 4 Application November 29, 1933, Serial No. 700,169 i 4 Claims. (Cl. l0-29) This invention relates to an automatic door Fig. 3 is a view of the back of the door showlatch and has for an object to provide a device ing the push member for opening door. for the auomatic opening of a door by pressing Fig. 4 is a rear view of the latch showing groove a pedal at the foot, thereby leaving the hands free for a spring.

5 for other purposes and. when closing the door it Fig. 5 is a front elevation of the latch, the latch 5 is only necessary to swing or merely kick the door being broken away to clearly show how the spring closed and the latch provided by this invention is fastened to the barn Wall. Y will automatically fasten the door. Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken onthe line 6 6 A further object of this invention is to provide of Fig- 5- l0 a latch particularly suited for use on doors of Fig. 7 is a sectional View taken on the line 7-7 10 barns, garages, implement sheds, dairies and nu- 0f Fig. 4. merous other buildings wherever lumber is used There is Shown at 10 a conventional reprein their. construction. Any farmer or dairyman selltdiiell 0f 2 building having e dOOI 11 and a Will readily appreciate its time saving and ein- Wall l2 to which the latch comprising this invencient operation. Opening a door with both hands 'bielllles been applied Il? Will be U-IldelslJOOd that l5 full of harness or pails of milk or other objects lille building 1G may be e bell, gei'ege, implement is a very difficult task Where the present various slled, dairy, OY any other type 0f building usually typesI of crude fasteners are used constructed of heavy but rough lumber and which This invention can further be used to advanis generally Used for the storage of live Stock,

tage Where doors do not t with such precision dairy or farm implements 0I' materials, ete In 20 as would be necessary for mortise door sets, such bllildllgs 0I" ibis general Iletllle is Often necesas used on dwelling houses. Furthermore, it is Sary and essential te Carry objects into the buildmuon steadier and will stand up under hard usage lee' Suele` as harness, milk nails, farm implements, Where mortise door sets would be far too fragile. etes thereby Causing the user '60 dellOsit the Objects A further object of this invention is that this 0n the ground Se es t0 have his hands free for 25 type oi lock may be applied to a, Series 'of Stau opening the door. Withthis invention the door doors for livestock, one latch being provided for can be quickly and easily Opened by means 0f each door. the foot Without the necessity of dropping any- A further object of this invention is that all filling frein the bends.

o the operating parts are connected to or mounted The (1001 11 is held in Closed bbston by means 30 onl the Wall of the building, nothing being atof a rotary latch member le, the latch member tanned directly to the .door per Se, so that there is 14 being shaped as shown, having one circular nothing to shake loose or break, edge 15 somewhat greater than a half circle and A further object of this invention is to provide WO flsvb edges 16 and 1'7- This lamb member is a door latch made'of a minimum number 0f m0v pivotally mounted on a sleeve 18 through which 35 ing parts, all of which may be made 0f metal if passes a bolt 19, the bolt 19 extending completely so desired. through the sleeve 18 and the Wall 12, to which it Still a further object of this invention is to prois fastened b5 means 0f a bolt 20 end- Wsshel 21- vide a door laten which inoiudes a look built there; The Sleeve 1e is Xed against rotation by having so desired against Opening. l key pin 2S placed in the Wall 12. The sleeve 18 Still a further object of this invention is to proterminates in 9J flange 24 the flange 24 being Vide a door latch which Wm enable a person to notched as at 25 so as to cooperate W1th the bolt 26 Open the door from inside the building. of a lLock 27, the outer face 28 of the lock 14 being Ll5 With the foregoing and other Objects in View, countersunli so as to admit the placing of the locli 45 as will hereinafter become apparent, this inven- 27 therm the lock 27 being Operated by a key 28 tion comprises the constructions, combinations, AS Wm be apparents he key ln 23 prevents me and arrangements of parts hereinafter set forth Sleeve 13 from mta'tmb an@ YZ en tm 100k 27 1S claimed and illustrated in the accom an in operate-d by the 106k key 28 1b advances the lock drawings" D Y s bouse into ine noten 25. Then tneiaten member 50 11i is likewise held against rotation and inasmuch -F'ig. 1 is a front elevation of the invention as apas the adjoining edges 15 and 16 Overlap the doolplled t0 e bern d OOri1 when in this position, the door 11 is held looked Fig. 2 1S a seetlonel View taken 011 the lille 2-2 against being opened, it being observed that the of Fig. 1. door 11 is mounted on hinges 29 in such a manner 55,

in so that the door may be positively locked when its end forked asat 22 so as to cooperate with a 40 i v by holding means such as a screw 33.

that it can be opened only in an external direction.

The latch member 14 is normally held in this latching position by means of a spring which is secured within a countersunk concentric groove 31 on the back face 32 of the latch member 14 The other end of the spring 30 is secured by similar holding means such as a screw 34, to the wall 12.

As will be apparent from an inspection of Figures 1,4 and 5, the spring 30 tends to rotate the latch member 14 in a clockwise direction. The rotation of the latch member 14 is limited by means of a T-shaped tongue 35 pivotally secured by a screw 36 to the wall 12. The screw 36 is so spaced from the bolt 19 that the T head 35 abuts against the flat edge 17 in the position shown in Figure 5 when the adjoining edges 15 and 16 overlap the door 11.

When the latch member 14 is rotated in a' counterclockwise direction by the structure yet to be described, the T-shaped head tongue 35 then abuts against the at edge 17 in the plositiony shown in thedot-dash outline 35 in Figure 1, when the flat edge 16 is parallel to and slightly spaced from the edge of the door 11, it being observed that the distance between the center of the bolt 19 and the nearest point of the 'hat edge 16 is less than the distance between the center of the bolt 19 and the edge of the door 11, thus permitting the latch member 14 to be rotated in a counterclockwise direction to entirely clear the door 11, permitting the door to be opened.

In order to rotate the latch member 14 in a counterclockwise direction against the action of the spring 30 a chain or other flexible member 37 is secured to a hooi: 38 in the circular edge 15 of the latch member 14, while the other end is secured to a foot pedal 39, which is pivotally mounted as at 49 on the side of the wall 12. As will be apparent, pressing the foot on the lever 39 will depress it to the position 39', causing the latch member 14 to rotate to the position 14 and retracting the edge 16 to the position 16 clear of the door 11, permitting the door to be opened.

In order to automatically open the door 11, an arm 41 is pivotally mounted in a U-shaped bracket 42 on the inside of the wall 12, a pin 43 passing through a pair of aligned openings 44 in the U-shapedrbracket 42 and through an opening in 'the arm 41.

As will be observed, three pairs of holes 44 are provided in the U bracket 42, thus permitting proper adjustment of the arm 41, as may be desired.

, One end 45 of the arm 41 presses against a coil spring 46 secured between the end 45 of arm 41 and the inside of the wall 12, the wall 12 being countersunk as at47 to receive the end of the coil spring therein. This coil spring 46 tends to press the'end 45 of the arm 4l away from the wall 12, thus pressing the other end 48 of the arm 4l againstrthe door 11, the pressure of the spring 46 being such as to pivot the arm 41 against the door 11 whenever the latch member 14 is in. the position 14.

In order to `eliminate friction between the end 43 of the arm 4l and the door 11, a roller 49 lis provided on the end 48 for making actual contact against the door 11, the roller 49 being moved to the position 49 whenever the latch member 14 is moved to the position 14', thus giving the door ing in the wall 12. The back face 32 of the latch member 14 is provided with a countersunk metal strip 51 provided with a series of apertures 52.

When the door 11 has been opened by the arm 41 moving to the position 41', the end of the pin 50 moves into one of the openings 52, thus holding the latch member 14 in the position 14' while the door 11 remains in the opened position. When the door 11 is moved to the closed position it presses against the roller 49, pushing the arm 41 back from the position of 41 and removing the pin 50 from the apertures 52. This permits the spring 3o to then rotate the latch member 14 back from the position 14 to the locking position shown in Figure 5. Thus the latch member 14 will be automatically held in the position 14 as long as the door. is opened and will automatically advance to the latched position whenever the door 11 is pressed to closed position against the action of the arm 41.

The exible member 37 attached to the foot pedal 39 serves to actuate the latch member 14 whenever the pedal 39 is depressed by a person outside the building. If it is desired to actuate the latch from arposition within the building 12, another flexible member 53 is provided which passes through a long curved slot 54 to the inside or" the wall 12 and ends in a handle member 55, such as a large rubber ball or the like,

preventing the exible member 53 from accia dentally being pulled through the slot 54, A person inside the building merely grasps the handle 55, pulls the flexible member 53 through the slot 54, rotating the latch member 14 to the position of 14' in the same manner that the flexible member 37 operates it. i

As will be obvious from the drawings and disclosure, the end 48 of the arm 41 projects into the doorway occupied by the door 11 while the door 11 is in opened position, thus partly obstructing the opening through the doorway. It is sometimes necessary to have the entire door space clear of any obstruction when taking a large article therethrough and to relieve the doorway of any obstruction, the end 48 may be folded back to the position of 48' shown in Figure 2.

The end 48 of the arm 41 is secured thereto by means of a U-shaped bracket 56 -pivotally secured to the arm 41 as at 57. The end 43 is held against movement about the pivot 57 by means of a heart-shaped spring 58 whose apex is secured at 59 to the arm 41. Two inturned ends 60 are secured by means of staples 61 to the arm 41, the arms 62 of they spring 58 being such that they normally project beyond the outsides of the arm 41 and thus overlap the U bracket 56, preventing the U bracket 56 from folding about its pivot 57 to the position shown in dash outline in Figure 2.

When it is desired to fold the end 48 to the position 48, however, it is only necessary to manually grasp the ends 60 of the arms 62, causing them to approach each other so that they no longer project beyond the outsides ofthe arm 41. The end 48 may then be folded about clear of the doorway. Afterwards, when it is desired to restore the arm 41 to normal operative position, it is only necessary to press the end 48 back to the straight position and the spring arms 62 will automatically lock it in this straight position.

The novel features and the operation of this device will be apparent from the foregoingV description. While the device has been shown and the structure described in detail, it is obvious that this is not to be considered limited to the exact form disclosed and that any changes may be made therein within the scope ofwhat is claimed without departing from the spirit of this invention.

Having thus set forth and disclosed the nature of this invention, what is claimed is:

1. For use with a building wall and a door hinged to open outwardly from said wall, a rotary latch member, moans for pivotally mount ing said rotary latch member on the building wall, said rotary latch member being of irregular outline whereby said latch member be rotated on said pivotal mounting means to ad- Vance an edge thereof over the door in a latching position, means normally urging said latch member into latched position, manual means for retracting said latch member, said pivotal mountingr means comprising a sleeve extending through said latch member into said wall, means preventing rotation of said sleeve relative to said wall, and a securing means extending through said sleeve and said wall.

2, For use with a building wall and a door hinged to open outwardly from said wall, a rotary latch member, means for pivotally mounting said rotary latch member on the building wall, said rotary latch member being of irregular outline whereby said latch member may be rotated on said pivotal mounting means to ad- Vance an edge thereof over the door in a latching position, means normally urging said latch member into latched position, manual means or retracting said latch member, said pivotal mounting means comprising a sleeve extending through said latch member into said wall, means preventing rotation of said sleeve relative to said wall, a securing means extending through said sleeve and said wall, locking means on said latch member and means on said sleeve member cooperating With said locking means to lock said latch member against rotation.

3. For use with a, building wall and a door hinged to open outwardly from said wall, a rotary latch member, means for pivotally mounting said rotary latch member on the building wall, said rotary latch member being oi irregular outline whereby said latch member may be rotated on said pivotal mounting means to advance an edge thereof over the door in a latching position, means normally urging said latch member into latched position, manual means for retracting said latch member, said pivotal mounting means comprising a sleeve extending through said latch member into said wall, means preventing rotation of said sleeve relative to said wall, a securing means extending lthrough said sleeve and said wall, locking means on said latch member, means on said sleeve member cooperating with said locking means to lock said latch member against rotation, and stop means secured to said wall in the path of said latch member, said stop means limiting the advancing and retracting movement of said latch member.

4. For use with a building wall and a door hinged to open outwardly from said Wall, a rotary latch member, means for pivotally mounting said rotary latch member on the building wall, said rotary latch member being of irregular outline whereby said latch member may be rotated on said pivotal mounting means to adv Vance an edge thereof over the door in a latching position, meansY normally urging said latch member into latched position, manual means for retracting said latch member, said pivotal mounting means comprising a sleeve extending through said latch member into said wall, means preventing rotation of said sleeve relative to said wall, a securing means extending through said sleeve and said wall, locking means on said latch member, means on said sleeve member cooper- 2 ating with said locking means to lock said latch member against rotation, and stop means secured to said Wall in the path of said latch member, said stop means limiting the advancing and retracting movement of said latch, said stop means comprising a T-shaped tongue pivotally secured to the building wall, said tongue being pivoted through the T shank whereby the T head member pivots into cooperative position with an edge of said latch member to limit its movement in either direction.

JAMES R. HENDERSON.

Cil 

